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How Can the Cloud Help Your Chapter?

By Mike Holihan, MediSked, Guest Blogger

As many provider agencies adopt cloud based software solutions to manage their records, let’s examine the benefits to the people who are receiving the care and service provided to them by these agencies. How does a hosted software solution (aka cloud based; meaning it is accessed through the internet) help organizations like chapters of The Arc provide the highest quality of care to the individuals we serve? Can the cloud make the lives of people better? We believe it can. Below is a list of examples of how cloud based software for providers can give crucial support staff access to information instantly, wherever they are. The cloud takes records out the filing cabinets or binders and puts them at the point of care where they belong. Let’s look at some examples.

  • Time searching for records: With a cloud based solution, client records are centralized and new information regarding them continually gets added to the same spot. So you always know where to look for any type of information on an individual. Think about how agencies traditionally store information today. How long would it take a provider to find out a client’s Medicaid # or emergency contact?Sometimes access to client records is urgent and time searching for that information in a paper storage system could be crucial. Time searching for records is a big improvement when you move to the cloud.
  • Special instructions: Special instructions are a lot more valuable when they’re at your fingertips. Whether it’s enhanced protective oversight or allergies, when a provider organization’s staff sees them right away, they can avoid negligence and improper care. So let’s say direct care staff is on a picnic or at the park with the people they serve and someone gets stung by a bee. The employee could pull out their smartphone and access the client record to see if they have a bee sting allergy. If they do, there could be instructions on what to do or the employee can react quicker in calling for medical care. If they see that they don’t have an allergy, they can react in a more appropriate manner. It’s all about giving staff access to information that will help them make better decisions in case of an emergency.
  • Medication administration: Rather than waiting until the end of the week to find out if a medication has been missed or administered in error, the cloud allows for real-time records. The cloud allows an agency to become more proactive instead of being reactive. This is the benefit of “real-time” records. Real time refers the ability to see when changes are made to a record as soon as an employee makes them in the system. Because the system is accessed through the internet or cloud, real time records give the provider, much more power in helping provide better quality of care because you can manage things that are happening as they are happening. As opposed to be reactive and trying to correct or fix something long after the fact.
  • Improved communications: Providers can talk to each other in real-time to inform other staff of any issues or concerns, rather than allowing those issues to grow. A good example is, change in health, behavior, demographics, or natural supports being circulated immediately. Think about how agencies traditionally work. Departments are siloed, meaning that one department rarely talks to another department. The cloud breaks down department walls and allows better communication around what’s really important, an individual’s care.
  • Improved outcomes: When data is available immediately, it can be used for trending and making better clinical decisions. When it exists only in a notebook, it is never charted or tracked. A good example: seizures, weight, behaviors, falls, choking, blood glucose, and more. If ignored, these predictive variables could be missed and an individual could end up in the hospital, where they are more likely to contract other illnesses. Again it’s about being proactive and the cloud allows that to happen!

For more information on how the cloud helps chapters of The Arc improve the quality of care, get a free e-report.

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Cloud Computing and People with Cognitive Disabilities

I’m here at the University of Colorado in Boulder at a fascinating two-day conference on cloud computing for people with cognitive disabilities. Hosted by the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities and others, the conference focuses on envisioning a future in which people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) use cloud technology to support every day activities. “Cloud computing?” you may ask. What is cloud computing, and what is the relationship to supporting people with IDD?

Cloud computing is real and is already happening. According to Wikipedia, “Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network (typically the Internet).” Think of internet-based tools such as Google docs, Picasa photos, on-line education, or paying a speeding ticket online. Online banking. Applications on your cell phone. Remote supports in residential settings that use off-site monitoring. Smart homes. These are all examples of cloud technology.

Families connected to IDD need to be aware of the impending crisis: there are not enough personal support staff to go around for all of the estimated 8 million people with IDD, many of whom are living with aging parents. Add to that equation the rising aging population that will be competing for care attendants. The writing is on the wall – there are fewer government resources to pay for traditional support services for people with IDD as we know them today. As a result, we need to be looking at alternative solutions to support needs now. Developers of cloud technology are working on supports for people with IDD that include family involvement and partnerships, supported and customized employment, recreation and leisure, remote therapies and counseling, health promotion, fiscal management, and many other daily supports. While the research is largely catching up to this digital revolution, early indications are that cloud technology advances the independence and self determination of people with IDD. While this technology will never replace the one-on-one supports needed by those with significant support needs, for many others cloud technology represents a new way of achieving personal goals and moving through day to day activities, with less reliance on others.

The Arc’s Research and Innovations Department will be highlighting cloud technology on a regular basis. Good places to get information online are the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII), Ablelink Technologies, and the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities.